50 States Day 58 Electric City ID to Missoula, Montana 301 miles
"If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad."
~Denis Waitley
Okay we cheated a bit. Since we took Friday off, yesterday, Sunday, we drove 117 miles from Winthrop to the Grand Coulee dam area and stayed at Banks Lake. Funny, the landscape felt like a letdown after the North Cascades Highway. Yet the forests and farmland were beautiful and the campground at Banks Lake was idyllic. It would have been a great spot to rent a jet ski or party boat, wave boarding or swimming. Yet once again it rained. That is 21 days of rain, except two.
We launched late as usual and rolled out at 10:30. And it was one of those days. Stop for ice, the place doesn't sell gas. Stop for gas. Stop for a grease gun to lube the (PP!) Bearing Buddies. After two hours we averaged 30 mph! We stopped at Treaty Rock, where Fredrick Post made a deal with Seltice, a prominent Coeur d' Alene Indian that enabled him to set up a sawmill. The deal seemed good for both of them, as Post got his mill and the Indians got some lumber. Who knows? He probably got two sticks
.
Finally, we got going and put on some miles. Since we stayed two days over our scheduled time in Washington, we wanted to get to Montana. Funny, Idaho morphed almost immediately from Washington farmland to pine forests, and Montana became forests mixed with high plains ranches.
The temperature climbed to 86 today, oh hallelujah and glory to God! We saw the Sun, surrounded by blue sky. Quilter Girl said I could handle sharp knives without supervision now.
We touched down at a (PP!)KOA, a great value as it was $26, has a pool, hot tub, ice cream social every night, nice bathrooms, green grass, and a nice store. Love to write more, but got to get to the ice cream social. They even have root beer floats. That's my kind of dinner.
7 comments:
I enjoyed reading about Frederick Post and the saw mill. Rumor has it that Mr. Post invented the fence post, which he produced at the mill (behind a well-fenced yard, of course). When he set his very first post in the ground, he named the place Post, ID. After a few years, the post rotted and fell over, so he re-named it Post Falls.
You mentioned the sunshine and beautiful blue sky. Remember... Montana is known as "Big Sky Country". I probably sound partial because I was raised there, but you'll probably never see skies bigger than the skies of Montana!
I thought the sky went everywhere above the ground...but all I've seen today is nasty looking clouds!
Grand coulee Dam....love it.....
Idaho panhandle is a blink when compared to Montana...enjoy the wide open spaces. Keep those photos coming
My only Idaho panhandle regret is missing Ceor d''Alene. But every state has tons of things we missed. One week is not enough! Maybe fifty states in fifty months... Or years.
You neglected to mention that Kalispell is MIL's birthplace-how could you forget such an important fact??
Pictures are terrific, thanks for great story on PP.
The PP is just to portect the (diet Pepsi) public. I couldn't live with myself (you) if people acted (are) against their (thirsty) will. Thanks for the (drink one now) comments!
KP
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